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Fra Socialist Review nr. 338

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Socialist Review 338: Content

338

3

jul 09

Beatrice Leal: Exhibition: Medals of Dishonour (British Museum, London)

338

2

jul 09

The basic idea behind this new exhibition of “anti-medals” at the British Museum, and its accompanying book, is to commemorate defeats and massacres instead of victories, and to insult rather than honour people.

Editorial

338

3

jul 09

Some ruling class economists and commentators are already talking up the idea that the worst of the economic crisis is over and recovery is round the corner. In aprliament, MPs seem to be under the illusion that having elected a new, Tory, speaker, voters’ confidence in their political structures will promptly be renewed.

Judith Orr: The economy: Don't believe the hype over recovery

338

4

jul 09

Beware talk of "green shoots" in the economy. Even if they prove to be real, job losses will continue to rise for some time to come.

Martin Empson: Green cuts

338

4

jul 09

The irrationality of capitalism was starkly exposed in April when, despite massively increasing its profits for the first three months of the year, the manufacturing company Vestas announced that it was to shed 1,900 jobs.

Jenny Sutton: Teaching Labour a lesson

338

5

jul 09

In education, young people from working class backgrounds are struggling with overcrowded classrooms, poor resources and overstretched teachers.

MPs’ second jobs by numbers

338

5

jul 09

273 – MPs (out of 646) who supplement income by working in secondary jobs
93 – of these MPs on the boards of some 270 firms
£2.7 million – Estimated annual non-parliamentary earnings of Conservative shadow cabinet

Maxine Bowler: The left needs to unite to fight back

338

6

jul 09

Labour voters stayed home in droves in June's European elections. They simply didn't have a credible alternative to get them to the polling station. This tells us that millions of working class people need an organisation which will stand up for them.

Patrick Ward: Labour: Fund-raising the dead

338

7

jul 09

If nothing else, Labour is unlikely to suffer embarrassment from dodgy donations this year.

Patrick Ward: Wartime boom

338

7

jul 09

There is at least one area of the economy doing well. Taxpayers have given some £148 million over the past three years to mercenary groups such as former Tory minister Malcolm Rifkind's ArmorGroup (the market leader, now part of the G4S security company).

Lindsey German: In my opinion: Unrepentant empire

338

7

jul 09

The long shadow of the Iraq war still hangs over British politics.

Frank Adam: Feedback: The religion question

338

8

jul 09

Terry Eagleton's The Gods Look Down was certainly one of the more acute and useful books I ever used, but to ask whether the "new atheists" are attacking immigrant communities for their religion (with all religions attacked as a smokescreen) is narrow of Neil Davidson's review of Eagleton's latest book, Reason, Faith and Revolution (Books, Socialist Review, June 2009).

Thomas Weiss: Feedback: Uncomfortable truths

338

8

jul 09

With The Kindly Ones, Jonathan Littell has written an important book (Books, Socialist Review, May 2009).

David Groves: Feedback: Where to in Italy?

338

8

jul 09

It's always good to read articles like Phil Rushton's (Frontlines, Socialist Review, June 2009).

Ian Birchall: Feedback: Help needed

338

8

jul 09

I am currently completing a biography of the late Tony Cliff and I am still trying to fill a few gaps.

Goretti Horgan: Letter from ...: Northern Ireland

338

9

jul 09

Attacks on Roma families have shocked many, but politicians must shoulder much of the blame.

Alex Callinicos: Labour collapse, BNP victories: Political meltdown

338

10

jul 09

The economic and political crises have undermined the legitimacy of mainstream politics, argues Alex Callinicos. As Labour's support crashes can the left offer answers?

Peyman Jafari: Iran's new rebellion

338

15

jul 09

Iranians have taken to the streets as the divisions in the ruling class have sharpened into open conflict.

Unjum Mirza: Union-made: Orchestrated demolition

338

17

jul 09

The 48-hour strike action taken by RMT tube workers that brought London to a virtual standstill in June has a number of lessons for us all.

Christophe Chataigné: Interview: A journey on the railroad

338

18

jul 09

Sin Nombre tells the story of a Honduran immigrant family on a dangerous train journey through Mexico to the US. US filmmaker Cary Fukunaga talks to Christophe Chataigné about his astounding and gripping debut.

Chris Harman: In perspective: Double edged 'democracy'

338

20

jul 09

The people of Poland demanded democracy in 1989 – but 20 years on the economy is still controlled by a tiny elite.

Ali Hassan + Gul Pasand: Refugees organise in Pakistan

338

21

jul 09

Ali Hassan and Gul Pasand of International Socialists Pakistan visited the Jalala refugee camp near Peshawar and found a mood to organise against the military assault.

Anindya Bhattacharyya: Nothing democratic about Nazis

338

22

jul 09

How do we challenge the Nazi British National Party now that it has won two seats in the European parliament and is attempting to appear part of the mainstream? Anindya Bhattacharyya argues we have to start with an understanding of the nature of fascism.

Paul Blackledge: A to Z of Socialism: Y is for Young Hegelians

338

24

jul 09

Marxism was born of a synthesis of the most advanced aspects of bourgeois social theory: English political economy, French socialism and German classical philosophy.

Jonny Jones: Book review: Zombie Capitalism

338

25

jul 09

Chris Harman, Bookmarks Publications; £16.99
Lenin once wrote of politics, "There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen." For people around the world, rich and poor, young and old, this statement could rarely have rung more true than late in 2008 when the economic orthodoxy came down to earth with an almighty bump.

Kelly Hilditch: Book review: The Ecological Revolution

338

26

jul 09

John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review; £13.95
If there was ever a case not to judge a book by its cover, this is it. Despite the rather garish and vaguely confusing cover image, this is possibly the most coherent and fundamentally serious book on the issues facing the planet that I have had the pleasure to read.

Iain Ferguson: Book review: Imperialism and Global Political Economy

338

27

jul 09

Alex Callinicos, Polity; £16.99
The notion of "imperialism" is firmly back on the global agenda. For many thousands of people who have become politically active over the past decade through involvement in the great movements against war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, it helps inform the way in which they now make sense of the world.

Jonathan Maunder: Book review: Lenin: A Study on the Unity of His Thought

338

27

jul 09

Georg Lukács, Verso; £6.99
This newly republished short book is essential in understanding Lenin's contribution to Marxism. When Georg Lukács wrote it in 1923 he had only recently become a Marxist, radicalised by the First World War and the Russian Revolution. He joined the Hungarian Communist Party in 1918 at the age of 33, and up to that point had written books on literary criticism.

Chris Bambery: Book review: A Radical History of Britain

338

28

jul 09

Edward Vallance, Little, Brown; £25
I read this book as the corruption scandal about MPs' expenses reached a climax. It fuelled my mounting frustration at commentators who repeatedly talked of the "very British" reaction to it all, in contrast to those dastardly continentals who'd be storming the palace of Westminster.

Adam Fabry: Book review: The Rise and Fall of Communism

338

28

jul 09

Archie Brown, The Bodley Head; £25
Beginning with the Russian Revolution and ending with the downfall of the one-party regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the period between 1917 and 1989-91 saw billions of people across the world living in states which were claiming to strive for the construction of a fundamentally different system to capitalism: "communism".

James Haywood: Book review: A Child in Palestine

338

29

jul 09

Naji al-Ali, Verso; £9.99
The cartoons of the legendary Palestinian character, Hanthala, are composed into this beautiful collection.

Ian Mitchell: Book review: Strike by Name

338

29

jul 09

Norman Strike, Bookmarks Publications; £8
Former miner Norman Strike decided to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1984-5 miners' strike by blogging his diary from the strike on the internet. This proved so popular that it has been put together for this book.

New in paperback and children books

338

29

jul 09

Belching out the Devil – Turnaround – Two Good Thieves – Stuff that Scares your Pants off!

Mike Gonzalez: Culture Column: A time for tragedy

338

30

jul 09

Phèdre, National Theatre, London, until 27 August
"For a writer to experience life tragically...there must be in his society a poignant, underlying sense of the times being morally and practically out of joint" (Victor Kiernan).
If that is so, then it is a perfect moment for the National Theatre to present the tragedy of Phaedra (Phèdre), with Helen Mirren in the title role.

Jacqui Freeman: Film Review: 35 Shots of Rum

338

31

jul 09

Director Claire Denis; Release date: 10 July
Claire Denis's latest film is a warm and beautifully observed portrayal of life in a working class suburb of Paris. Centring on the deeply affectionate relationship between Lionel, a widowed train driver, and Josephine (Jo), his daughter, the plot unfolds effortlessly, yet offers rich insight into the various characters who make up their world.

Louis Bayman: Film Review: Shirin

338

31

jul 09

Director Abbas Kiarostami; Release date: out now
It might be truer to the spirit of Kiarostami's latest experimental work to begin, dear reader, not with a description of his film but on the condition of review-writing. There is something unromantic about the critic's view of the blank computer screen when compared to the audience member's relationship with the cinema screen, on which images in flickering light bring love, violence, death – in a word, emotion.

Millie Fry: FIlm Review: Frozen River

338

32

jul 09

Director Courtney Hunt; Release date: 17 July
Frozen River, directed by Courtney Hunt, is a gritty and captivating contemporary drama, based on fact, that depicts the escalating and desperate situation of single mother Ray Eddy, played by Melissa Leo.

Neil Roberts: Exhibition Review: Banksy versus Bristol Museum

338

32

jul 09

City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, until 31 August
Banksy has come home to Bristol. The anonymous street artist launched his biggest ever exhibition at the city's museum at the end of June, provoking Banksy mania in the local and national press.

Five Things to get or see this summer

338

33

jul 09

Mad men – Newspapers – Antichrist – Edinburgh – Revolutionary Road

Keith Flett: Obituary: John Saville (1916-2009)

338

34

jul 09

John Saville, who died aged 93, was a towering figure in the field of Marxist and labour history, and in the British labour movement and the left for more than seven decades.

Keith Flett + Tim Sanders + Eileen Short: Cartoon: A People's History of the World: 24 – China, Not the Dark Ages

338

35

jul 09

Paul Burnham: Book Review: Ground Control (online only)

338

jul 09

Anna Minton, Penguin; £9.99
Over the past 20 years cities and urban spaces in Britain have been remodelled in the interests of profit. "Regeneration" has brought private, corporately managed and policed spaces, from which working class communities have been excluded.

Seb Cooke: Book Review: The Cinema of John Sayles (online only)

338

jul 09

Mark Bould, Wallflower Press; £16.99
In a scene in Matewan, John Sayles's brilliant film about the struggle for unionisation in a West Virginia mining town in the 1920s, an argument erupts that is still relevant today.

Matt Perry: Book Review: The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis (online only)

338

jul 09

Matthew Cobb, Simon & Schuster; £17.99
The heroic view of the French resistance has faded. Histories of France in these years focus on the complexity of French public opinion, the collaborationist Vichy regime of Philippe Petain or challenge the resistance myths of Charles de Gaulle and the French Communist Party. Cobb's book tries to buck this trend with a demythologised but sympathetic account of the French resistance, attempting to demonstrate its "power to inspire".

Charlie Hore: Book Review: When China rules the world (online only)

338

jul 09

Martin Jacques, Allen Lane; £25.00
One of the most striking features of China's rise has been its sheer speed. Thirty years ago the Chinese economy was essentially stagnant, and accounted for less than 1 percent of world trade. Since then it has grown by around 10 percent a year almost without interruption, and has become the third largest trading economy (behind the US and Germany). So it's hardly surprising that most commentators assume that this will carry on indefinitely.